Another major theater chain is reportedly working on a MoviePass competitor

Movie ticket subscription services have had a tough time of it.
The two largest names in the business — MoviePass and Sinemia —
have been waging what looks to have been a mostly losing battle in
the war to reinvigorate box office sales. The category has been
plagued by mind-boggling cash burn rates and disastrous customer
service.

AMC’s A-List service, on the other hand, appears to be moving
along swimming. In May,
it hit 785,000 subscribers, effectively tripling MoviePass’
most recent numbers, according to a report. Of course, AMC has one
key thing the competition doesn’t: it’s own theaters. That
means, among other things, that the company operates with far few
middlemen.

According to
a new report from Deadline, Regal is also set to get into the
subscription business. As of last year, the Tennessee-based chain
is number two in the U.S., with 558 theaters to AMC’s 659, which
means it has similar infrastructural for support in place. The plan
would be tiered, giving premium subscribers access to all theaters
in the change, with another plan cutting that down to about half of
its locations (which would cut out access to locations in big
cities like LA and NYC).

Like AMC’s offering, the deal would also offer discounts on
some concessions — deals on $20 buckets of popcorn are another
advantage theater chains have over third parties like MoviePass and
Sinemia. The plans are reportedly set to launch at the end of the
month, as soon as Regal’s parent company has worked out the finer
details with studios.